The Evolution of IC Manufacturing Technology

The evolution of IC (integrated circuit) manufacturing technology is mainly based on the scaling of semiconductor devices and processes. The technology scaling trend was predicted by the famous Moore’s Law during the past half of century. The IC development no longer closely follows the forecast by Moore’s Law in recent years, so the post-Moore’s Law era begins. The semiconductor industry organizations jointly proposed general technology roadmaps, e.g., ITRS (International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors) and IRDS (International Roadmap for Devices and Systems). IC manufacturing processes are generally divided into Front-End-of-Line (FEOL) and Back-End-of-Line (BEOL), with Middle-of-Line (MOL) added after high-k metal gate process and eSiGe process were introduced.